As part of an autonomous project, led by an environmental protection family of the Department of Vichada, more than 1,200 Terecay and Galapago turtles were released with the support of the Colombian Navy, the General Maritime Directorate, the National Army and the inhabitants of Caño Juriepe, a near the Meta River close to the urban center of the municipality of Puerto Carreño - Vichada.
The Cárdenas Bustos family started its environmental protection activities about ten years ago, as part of a strategy to counteract the loss of these turtle specimens that live in the Meta River caused by the indiscriminate hunting of their eggs for human consumption and their illegal commercialization.
Some institutions and local people have been joining the activities that the Cárdenas Bustos family carries out year after year. This is how, on this occasion, an arduous operation was carried out that began in the months of January and February with the collection of their eggs on the banks of the Meta River, to monitor their incubation for approximately 70 days, until finally they came out of their shell to grow in safe conditions for three more months; after this period they could be returned to their natural habitat.
It should be noted that the Terecay turtle, scientifically known as Podocnemis unifilis, and the Galapagos turtle, scientifically known as Podocnemis vogli, are in the same way hunted when they are little turtles and in their adulthood, not only for consumption, but in the same way to make oils and medicinal ointments with their fat or to market them as pets. For this reason, the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development included the Terecay turtle among the endangered specimens of our country, resolution 1912 agreement of 2017.
The more than 1,200 turtles returned to their natural habitat during this operation that complements two other groups of these same specimens released in recent days, for a total of approximately three thousand turtles; with projects like this, people contribute to the conservation of the fauna of the Orinoquia region.
Source: Press - Navy of Colombia
